human

I’ve had this quote on my mind the past day or so. I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets frustrated with someone because he or she is deficient at a certain thing. But I know that just because I’m not alone in this, doesn’t mean that I’m right. In fact, I’m probably more self-righteous than right, if I really think about it. It’s a little ridiculous to expect anyone to be perfect, or even near perfect, yet how many times do I become exasperated with someone over a small mistake or faux pas without realizing they’re just as human as I am?

I’ve been working on quite a few projects lately and frankly, I’ve been amazed at some individuals’ lack of consideration, especially when it comes to respecting others’ time and effort. Initially I was letting their actions get to me and I started to take it a little personally. Thankfully, one of my friends pointed out that perhaps this one individual (whom I consider a serial offender) might not have ever had any prior experience with the particular subject matter and is probably out of her depths. I’d love to say that I immediately got over my hard feelings and invited her over for brunch, but I didn’t. If I’m being completely honest with myself, I’m probably still not quite over this individual’s behavior but that’s OK because I’m human too. But just because I’m not perfect, doesn’t mean that I can’t really try to be better. Human or not, everyone could use a little slack and that extends to her as well as to myself.

So I’m on a mission to start applying the quote above in my life a little bit more and see if that helps lower my blood pressure and exercise my patience a bit more. I think we all could use a little bit more kindness in our day-to-day and the world would be a different place if we could all try a bit harder to be nice to ourselves and the person next to us. My challenge for myself (and you) is that one day this week when someone has inadvertently wronged you that you will consciously let it, just roll off your back. It’s ridiculously hard for me but i’m actually kind of excited to try.

Would you be willing to give it a go and flex your patience muscle a bit this week or have you done so recently? I’d love to hear your stories-leave a comment!